Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip - Season One (1 Viewer)

[Ken Chan]

Well of course people on TV are prettier. Perhaps the best lifetime batting average goes to Jack McCoy's partners on Law&Order. The new one especially is distractingly pretty.

 

[Sam Favate]

The second episode was even better than the first, IMO. I enjoyed Matt's speech to the writers about grown men dressing like they're in junior high. And count me among those who thought the song at the end was brilliant.

The show is off to a great start. Here's hoping it can sustain itself. It already has me and my wife looking forward to next week.

 

[Sylvia*ST]

I am still unimpressed with this show after the 2nd episode. I especially question the whole song/sketch based on Gilbert and Sulivan's Pirates of Penzance "patter" song. G&S operettas were parodies of the politics/politcians of their day while this show remains a parody of a show that is a parody of itself. I'm just not finding much that's truly original here and I think the Sorkin wit is totally absent. I realize I'm waaaay in the minority, but that's what makes a horserace.

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> this show remains a parody of a show that is a parody of itself.

Huh? Studio 60 is not a parody of anything. It's not even a comedy.

 

[Henry Gale]

Oh!
Where to start...or why?
Someone who posted VERY recently got himself on my ignore list...and then back off because, like an automobile wreck, you just have to look.
A few days behind on my viewing I just finished the second episode.
Just alluding to "I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major-General" (yes, that's the real title) pleased me, I had no idea they would actually produce this number in its entirety.
I'll have to either keep this episode or buy the season box.
Did more than one person here really opine that this was NOT FUNNY?
It was not only funny......it was amazingly difficult to produce for a weekly TV show.
Go to the original libretto, try to sing along…that’s right, it’s impossible.
So, the Studio 60 version had easier lyrics, still, a lot of work. More importantly, funny.

 

[Henry Gale]

For those who, like me, were ignorant of the Animaniacs...


Animaniacs - I am the very model of a cartoon individual


I am the very model of a cartoon individual
My animation's comical, unusual, and whimsical
I'm quite adpet at funny gags, comedic theory I have read
From wicked puns and stupid jokes to anvils that drop on your head

I'm very good at fancy dances, I can even pirouette
Then smack the villain...with a fish, I know my cartoon etiquette
I can make my face all mean and really give you quite a fright
Then make up with flowers made of real exploding dynamite

When in a jam, I just yell "stop" and villains in their tracks are froze
Then I sneak up and utter "start" and take my hands and honk their nose
I am quite proud to be in such a hierarchal progeny
From Daffy Duck and Tweety Bird to Babs and Buster Bunny

To suit my mood I can call forth a lot of different sceneries
Like outer space and desert scapes and Himalayan eateries
From this bag here why I can pull most anything imaginable
Like office desks and lava lights and Bert who is a cannibal

You see in matters comical, unusual, and whimsical,
We are the very model of cartoon individuals!

 

[Chris Lockwood]

> It was not only funny......it was amazingly difficult to produce for a weekly TV show.
Go to the original libretto, try to sing along…that’s right, it’s impossible.

Not funny at all. Hard to sing doesn't mean funny. Bohemian Rhapsody is hard to sing, but not comedy gold. It might mean talented performers, but funny? No. Especially as the opening sketch that's supposed to WOW the audience with humor.

 

[Parker Clack]

The thing I took away from the G&S song at the end is that Sorkin is a big fan of G&S. He used He is an Englishman! from HMS Pinafore on the West Wing.

Personally I plan on watching this great team of writers, producers, cast and crew work together for several seasons.

 

[Henry Gale]

 

[Wendy_L]

Scott, you took the words right out of mouth. That's exactly how I see it too. I, myself, have a big problem with radical religious groups but I respect anyone who believes in God even if I don't, as long as they don't try to push their point of views on me.

People like Harry I can tolerate and even respect, ppl who protest TV shows and blow up abortion clinics I can't.

 

[ScottH]

Another way to look at it is that they are poking fun at the religious zealots who protest anything without even actually knowing what it's about. Kind of like when people were protesting the movie 'Dogma' without having seen it, not knowing it was actually pro-faith and pro-christian.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Guys,

Let's be very careful about posting our religious views in this
thread. Yes, I do understand that the show is featuring a
storyline dealing with religious conflict, but I can already see
instances within this thread where discussion can easily spiral
out of control because one person does not agree with another's
position.

All I am suggesting is that we be very careful not to cross lines
here.

Thanks!

 

[Yee-Ming]

Count me as one who enjoyed the song, and the episode. Still not as good as WW or SN though, but let's give it a bit of time. Particularly liked the line about the "hundred-dollar hooker reacharound"

Heh, this is the first time ever that I'm posting about a show having seen it on broadcast first run -- yes, I'm on vacation in the US right now...

 

[DanielCo]

The scene that sums up the series for me is when Helen brings the fake bottle crashing down on Lilly's head.

Unlike the subtleties of Sports Night or the beginnings of the West Wing, every storyline, speech and movement is as obvious as a hit in the head.
And apparently as half-hearted as that scene.

Amanda Peet is WAY in over her head. As nice as it is nice to have some new faces in a cast awash in West Wing history (which is distracting in itself), Peet looks absolutley lost in this crowd.

Aaron, Tom and company, please give us as much credit in the future shows as you have in your past ones.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

I don't see how Studio 60 has a cast awash in West Wing History.

 

[Henry Gale]

Don't know where they'll start next week, but the clock gets to
"00 00 00 00" at the show's start and then counts down from 7 days.
When the episode ended we were 2:07 into the "live broadcast".
06 23 57 53
They can flow wherever they like.

P.S. I'm having trouble describing a show within a show.

 

[Ray Chuang]

Speaking of which, if the Nielsen ratings are anything to go by, this show is not doing that well--ratings this week were quite a bit lower than the pilot episode. Even worse, the national ratings for the show actually dropped at the half-hour point--not a good sign for long-term success.

 

[Mikah Cerucco]

Looks like the Networks aren't the only place people rush to conclusions.

 

[DanielCo]

You mean other than Bradley Whitford, Timothy Busfield, Matthew Perry, Evan Handler. Oh, and wasn't that Anna Deavere Smith on stage during the press conference?

 

[Ken Chan]

The one running it, behind the podium? No, and doesn't look much like her. Given that there were hundreds of people on The West Wing, and dozens of recognizable faces over the years, the handful you mention hardly seems "awash".